Effect of accelerated aging on the electrical performance of epoxy resin nanocomposite filled with SiO2 nano particles

Many studies have been carried out to study the performance of nanocomposite in the past decade. It has been proved that nanocomposite has a superior performance in both electrical and mechanical tests. But the long-term performance study is still lack in this area. Since the conventional composite products have issues in long-term performance, it's meaningful to carry out more studies on the long-term performance of nanocomposite. In this study, two different kinds of nanocomposite specimens are prepared for comparison. The host matrix, which is epoxy resin, is filled with nano SiO
₂
particles. The percentage loading are 1 wt% and 2 wt% respectively. The nano fillers are dispersed into the epoxy resin using planetary centrifugal mixing technique and degassed in vacuum. Accelerated aging method is applied to age the specimens using QUV accelerated weathering tester. The total aging time is 500 hours. AC breakdown strength test, surface partial discharge analysis and FTIR are carried out to evaluate the electrical performance of the specimens.